IDC said it believes that the growth rate will accelerate to 1.6% in 2018, bringing worldwide spending on telecom and pay TV services to $1,689 billion.

The market is forecast to continue its positive growth until the end of the five-year forecast period (2018-2022), growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.1%. The analyst firm said this stable positive trend will entirely be a consequence of increasing demand for data services.

“The global telecoms market will maintain steady growth of 2% over the forecast timeframe of 2018-2022. Communications service providers are in transition, facing a flat voice market, but steady growth in fixed and mobile data services. Fixed data services will grow by 4% due to strong demand for broadband, Ethernet, and high-speed fiber connectivity. While mobile voice revenues are declining, this sector will be sustained by strong growth in data and other services,” said Courtney Munroe, group vice president for worldwide telecommunications research at IDC.

On a geographic basis, the Americas will remain the largest services market until the end of the forecast period in 2022. However, due to somewhat slower growth compared to other regions, its share of total worldwide spending will decline from 38% in 2017 to 36% in 2022. In contrast, Asia-Pacific will see its share increase from 32% to 34%.

“The Asia-Pacific market is growing faster than other regions due to the thirst for data services – spending on fixed data services is set to grow by 6% over the forecast period, which is significantly higher than other regions and this, coupled with mobile data growth, is driving the overall market growth,” said Eric Owen, group vice president at IDC.

The single-digit growth rates clearly show that the worldwide market for telecommunications services has matured. This situation requires changes on the supply side, IDC said.

“Growth in telecom revenues requires innovative strategies and tactics and a steadfast approach to the market,” said Denise Lund, research director at mobile enterprise research at IDC. “Establishing and growing a base of connections has never been more challenging, yet it is critical to communications service providers that want to claim a stake in the future revenue growth opportunities.”

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